In form Southlanders Corbin Strong and Josh Burnett line up for road nats

More than 130 riders, led by a growing number from major UCI Pro teams, will descend on Timaru in just over one week for the 85th staging of Cycling New Zealand’s Elite Road National Championships.

Leading the way will be Groupama-FDJ professional, Laurence Pithie, fresh from his historic victory in the Great Ocean Race in Australia, the first New Zealander to win a one-day WorldTour race.

It is the fourth time that the South Canterbury Cycling Club has hosted the event which will be held from 8 to 10 February. It has been over 25 years since the championships were last staged in the strong cycling region, fittingly to coincide with the club’s recent centenary.

The elite men’s field includes Pithie’s WorldTour teammate Reuben Thompson along with a bunch of UCI Pro team riders who compete in most WorldTour races. They include Israel Premier-Tech pair of 2021 champion George Bennett and in-form Corbin Strong.

There will be considerable local support for Logan Currie, from nearby Methven district, who won both under-23 time trial and road race titles last year, and has been signed for powerhouse pro team, Belgian-based Lotto-Dstny.

There are a number of riders who will compete for European-based pro teams this year, headed by Commonwealth Games road champion Aaron Gate (Burgos-BH) and his former Black Spoke teammate, and three-time national champion, James Fouche (Euskatel-Euskadi).

Using their numbers to effect will be New Zealand’s only UCI professional team, the in-form MitoQ-NZ Cycling Project, with team riders Josh Burnett and James Gardner respectively winning the UCI Gravel & Tar race and the Criterium National Championships, both in Manawatu last week.

The team has 10 riders competing in Timaru including Central Otago’s James Williamson, at 34 years young returning to lead the team, after winning the national road championship 12 years ago in Christchurch.

There are five female riders on major professional teams competing in Timaru, with four of them with national titles in road race and time trial in under-23 categories, in Ella Harris (Wahoo Lifeplus), Henrietta Christie (Human Powered Health), Kim Cadzow who moves to EF Education, and Mikayla Harvey (UAE Team ADQ). The fifth, Ella Wyllie, has been signed by WorldTour team Liv AlUla Jayco, finishing third in the young rider category and seventh on general classification in the recent Santos Tour Down Under.

They will need to be aware of the rising stars, with 12 riders in Black Magic Tinelli colours, the programme nurtured and run by Patrick Harvey, who has been at the forefront of the development of women’s road cycling in this country.

There will be interest in Olympic MTB professional Anton Cooper (Trek Factory)  along with women’s under-23 MTB world champion, Sammie Maxwell (Rockrider Ford), who will compete in their respective road races.

The time trials will be held on Thursday 8 February in the Claremont rural district 10km west of the city. The Under-19 females will be timed over a 14.8km course, the U19 men, U23 and elite women over 24kms with U23 and elite men over 37kms.

Action moves to the road on Friday around a testing 24.4km loop with a 200m ascent and decent each lap. The U19 men race over 122.5 kms (5 laps) from 9am on Friday 9 February with U23 women, and Elite women over the same distance from 1.30pm.

The action on Saturday 10 February starts with the U19 females over 77.5km (3 laps) from 8am and the U23 and Elite men over a challenging 196km (8 laps) from 11am.

Find the media plan for how to watch and follow on the website below.